In one of the remote streets of Moscow, in a gray house with white columns, mezzanine and a curved balcony, once lived a lady, a widow surrounded by numerous backyards. Her sons were in St. Petersburg, her daughters were married; she rarely traveled and lived alone in recent years with her stingy and bored old age. Its day, unhappy and rainy, long ago passed; but her evening was blacker than the night. From among all her servants the most remarkable person was the janitor Gerasim, a man of twelve heights of growth, built by a hero and a deaf-mute from birth. The mistress took him from the village, where he lived alone, in a small hut, apart from his brothers, and was considered almost the most serviceable draft man. Gifted with extraordinary strength, he worked for four - the business was arguing in his hands, and it was fun to look at him when he either plowed and, leaning his huge hands on the plow, it seemed as if he alone, without the help of a horse, cut the elastic chest of the earth, or about Petrov The day so shatteringly acted oblique, that at least a young birch wood can be whisked off the roots, or quickly and without stop thrashing with a three-barrel chain, and the elongated and firm muscles of his shoulders fell and leared like a lever. Constant silence attached solemn importance to his frenzied work. He was a nice man, and if he had not been unhappy, any girl would have liked to marry him ... But Gerasim was brought to Moscow, bought him boots, sewed a caftan for the summer, for the winter a sheepskin coat, they gave him a broom and a shovel and identified him as a janitor. Strongly did not like him at first his new life. Since childhood he has got used to field works, to country life. Alienated by his misfortune from a community of people, he grew dumb and mighty as a tree grows on fertile soil ... Moved to the city, he did not understand what? he was bored and wondered how perplexed the young, healthy bull, who had just been taken from the field where the lush grass was growing to his belly, took it, put it on the railroad car, and, behold, pouring his fat body into smoke with sparks, then a wavy steam, rushing it now, rushing with a bang and squeal, but where are we going - God knows! The lessons of Gerasim on his new position seemed to him a joke after heavy peasant work; in half an hour everything was ready for him, and again he stopped in the middle of the yard and gazed, gaping at everyone passing, as if wanting to obtain from them a solution to his enigmatic position, then suddenly left somewhere in the corner and, throwing his broom far away shovel, rushed to the ground with his face and lay for hours on his chest motionless, like a trapped beast. But the man gets used to everything, and Gerasim has got used at last to city live. He had little business; all his duty was to keep the yard clean, twice a day to bring a barrel of water, to train and chop firewood for the kitchen and the house, but do not let other people in and watch at night. And I must say, he diligently fulfilled his duty: in his yard he never had a puppy lying around, nor a rubbish; whether a broken nag-vodka will be stuck in a dirty time somewhere with a barrel, he will only move his shoulder - and not just the cart, the horse will spin off; he will pound firewood, the ax will ring him like glass, and fragments and logs fly in all directions; but what about the strangers, so after he caught one of the thieves one night, caught two of the thieves, knocked their friend on each other with his foreheads, and so he knocked, that even though they were not brought to the police, everyone in the neighborhood was very respectful of him; even in the daytime, were no longer swindlers, but just strangers at the sight of the terrible janitor waved and shouted at him, as if he could hear their screams. With all the rest of the servants, Gerasim was in a relationship not so friendly - they were afraid of him - but short: he considered them his own. They were explained to him with signs, and he understood them, he followed all the orders exactly, but he knew his rights, and no one dared to sit down in his place in the feast. In general, Gerasim was a strict and serious man, he liked order in everything; even roosters with him did not dare to fight - or else trouble! He will see, immediately grab at his feet, turn ten times in the air with a wheel and throw it apart. In the yard the lady also had geese; but the goose, it is known, is an important bird and judicious; Gerasim felt respect for them, followed them and fed them; he himself looked like a stupid gander. They took a little room over the kitchen; he arranged it for himself, according to his own taste, built in her a bed of oak planks on four logs - a truly heroic bed; a hundred poods could be put on it - would not bend; under the bed was a hefty trunk; in the corner was a table of the same strong quality, and near the table there was a chair on three legs, so sturdy and squat that Gerasim himself would occasionally pick it up, drop it and grin. The closet was locked on the castle, resembling a kind of kalach, only black; The key to this castle Gerasim always carried with him on his belt. He did not like to be visited. So the year passed, after which Gerasim happened a small incident